


He's my best friend

by KittyGirl



Series: Bernabéu High School [2]
Category: Football RPF
Genre: Everyone Is Gay, For some reason the German national team players are the teachers, High School AU, I love Arsenal so there will probably be some guest appearances, I'm really bad at tagging, It's Real Madrid High School, M/M, Other ships than the ones mentioned too, i just ignore all transfers I don't like
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-03
Updated: 2017-07-10
Packaged: 2018-08-19 10:11:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 13,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8201449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KittyGirl/pseuds/KittyGirl
Summary: I love reading high school AUs so I wanted to write my own.It's about Bernabéu High School and the chaos which is Sergio's and Iker's life.I have nothing more to add.





	1. Math is boring

**Author's Note:**

> Okay... This is my first time doing this and I'm quite excited.  
> I never posted anything on this website before and though I have written fan fiction prior to this, that's a few years in the past and I never tried myself on a multi chapter fic...  
> Like I expressed in the summary I LOVE high school AUs and there just aren't enough to still my thirst for them.  
> Title is from the song 'Best Friend' from Toy-Box. xD

There had always been a fight between the english and the math teachers of their school, but with the arrival of Mr. Hummels and Mr. Höwedes their rivalry reached new levels.

Sergio had always felt more drawn to #TeamHummels but he had to admit that math class with Höwedes had one big advantage.

That advantage was one meter eighty five tall, had dark brown hair, slightly big ears and sat across the room from Sergio.

Iker was starring down at the paper in front of him, furrowing his brows, thinking.

It dawned Sergio that he should probably be doing the same, but finding his best friend to be to much of a distraction.

He cursed Iker for being so attractive(and also math for being so boring).

At that moment Iker looked up and caught his glance. A huge smile spread across his face and Sergio couldn't help but reply with an even bigger one. 

Iker motioned down to his paper, telling Sergio he should get started on his work. Of course he would ruin a cute little moment like that with school stuff, what a nerd.

But since he didn't want to fail his test and risk getting a "school is important you need to take it more serious" both from his mom and Iker, he started working. 

\----

When he came to lunch Iker was already there, nothing unusual. 

Unusual was that the seat next to him was filled. It was an unspoken rule that that seat belonged to Sergio. It always had been and it would be until graduation. 

Well, it seemed as if the lovely girl who was apparently enjoying his best friends company was clueless. 

Sara. 

He hated her. Well not exactly hated, more like disliked her. He didn't really hate anyone except maybe referees, who thought they had to give him a red card for a little tackle. 

Also, he always reasoned, Iker must have a reason for liking her, he just couldn't see what it was.

Well, she was quite pretty.

And smart.

Really smart.

So basically perfect for Iker.

She seemed very excited about whatever she was saying, gesticulating wildly in the air.

Iker laughed. 

He then grabbed her hands to stop her from hitting anyone by accident and told her to get going so she wouldn't be to late for class. That she did. Saying goodbye with a kiss on the cheek, she left. 

Sergio slid into his seat next to the goalkeeper and started eating immediately not knowing what to talk about.

"Ohhh. What's wrong Sergio? Trouble in paradise?"

Shocked, Sergio almost choked on a piece of his pizza, but he quickly managed to take a sip of coke to keep from coughing.

If even Cris had noticed something was wrong everyone else at the table would've too, including Iker.

"Nope. I'm just really hungry and also I'm having trouble in math at the moment, ran into Höwedes who told me if I don't want to fail I need to participate more..." He tried to act normal.

"Ignore Cris. He's just trying to compensate his sadness by making other people feel bad." Marcelo chipped in.

This made Sergio look up from his plate.

"What happened? Did Mes find someone else in London? Did Irina tell him that he's only a nine today instead of a ten?"

"Believe it or not our big CR7 is pouting because James is spending time with other people." Marcelo grinned.

"I'm not pouting and he's not spending time with other people. There's only one other person."

Sergio almost laughed at the last part.

But Marcelo nudged Cristiano in the side trying to make him feel better.

"Be happy for him. It's good that he makes friends his age."

"I know. But why does it have to be the weird, boring german kid?"

"I thought you liked Toni? Even compliment him sometimes, which doesn't work well with your ego..."

Cris sighed in defeat. "He's a good player, it's just..."

He shot a jealous glance in the direction of the two sophomores.

"Wow. Be careful not to kill Toni with your death stare we could still need him..."

The rest of the table giggled at Sergio's joke. Except Cris of course, who shot back:

"Like the way you looked at Sara was any better. We thought you'd explode of jealousy..."

Sergio gave him a tired laugh. It was the same as always. 

None of his friends knew of his crush on Iker, but they still kept teasing about the two of them. 

He had to act as if he was joking too.

As if their friendly pre match kisses on the cheek didn't leave him wanting more.


	2. You need a tutor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iker wants to tutor Sergio in math. James needs advice on kissing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everybody who reviewed or left Kudos. I appreciate it a lot. I'm having fun writing this and I hope I can keep a good uploading schedule but I'm not sure if it'll because of school... Anyways, enjoy!  
> P.S.: I found out what I have the most problems with. It's the difference between 'to' and 'too', so if anyone has a tip how to know when to use which, please comment!

Iker was on his way to the training ground after school, when he saw a familiar figure just a few meters in front of him.

He creeped forward as quietly as he could and then quickly covered Sergio's eyes, blocking his sight. 

"Guess who?" 

"Oh that's hard. I have so many friends that have your exact voice and your enormously large goalkeeper hands, Iker..."

"You got me!" 

They laughed. 

It felt comfortable and it made Iker's heart flutter. He loved every minute he got to spend with his best friend. 

When they had quieted down Iker stated. "At lunch you said you had problems in math. I can help you with that if you wanted me too." 

"No, I don't really think it's a big problem, but thanks for the offer." 

Iker wouldn't just let him get away with that answer. "Are you sure? You looked a little helpless with the equations today..." 

Sergio blushed a little. "That's my thinking face Iker!" It was actually his "I'm helplessly in love with my best friend" face.

Rolling his eyes at his friends stubbornness, Iker was used to this by now, he continued. "Come on, let me help you. We could meet every Wednesday, study for a while and then watch the Champions League." 

Sergio pondered. He couldn't find a flaw in Iker's plan, except the studying part, so he agreed. 

Iker hugged him. 

It wasn't often that Sergio let someone help him. It wasn't often that Sergio needed help either. But when he did his stubbornness often got in the way and Iker was proud to crack that shell to make Sergio get over his pride. 

Their embrace, Iker held Sergio for longer than usual(he was enjoying the warmth of the defender), was interrupted by someone shouting "Gaaay!".

They turned to find Cristiano on the other side of the street with a grin which showed off all his pearly white teeth. 

Sergio called back. "Like you're the one to talk... By the way, how is your BOYFRIEND doing?!" 

Crossing the road so they wouldn't have to yell, Cristiano joined them. 

The rest of the way they spend talking about Mesut, their Skype conversations with him(Cris skyped him a lot more regular of course, but Sergio made a good effort to keep in touch) and how much they missed him as a player.  
\----  
James was on his way over to Cristiano, who was passing some balls with Segio and Iker.  
He needed his friend's advice. Desperately.

He tugged the older boy's sleeve.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?"

For a split second James thought that Cris looked a little annoyed but that moment passed and Cristiano replied with the usual fond smile he had while talking to James.

"Sure. What's up Hammy?!"

"I need your help. How do I kiss a person?"

Cristiano blinked. And stared at him. And it definitely made James feel uncomfortable. 

"You okay Cris?"

"Me? Oh. Yes, yes... Did you say kissing?"

"Yeah. I kinda need your help with that..."

It took a moment for Cris to answer and James was worried that he'd turn into a statue again but Cristiano recovered faster from the shock this time.

"Okay. But why?"

"You know Daniela?!"

Cristiano laughed. "The girl that had a crush on you since freshmen year but was afraid to ask you out because of her big brother..."

"Yeah. Exactly her. We're going to the movies tomorrow and it's our third date so I'm pretty sure she expects me to kiss her."

"Your third date already?! James David Rodríguez, why haven't I heard of this yet? Are you keeping secrets from me?"

James pushed his friend playfully.

"I just told you and you are avoiding the topic!"

Cris looked at him skeptically.

"But you are so young!"

James made his best puppy face. He knew how to get Cris to talk.

"Please. I bet you're a great kisser! I know you are experienced. I saw you and Mes. Please just some small advice..."

Feeling a bit cheeky he added. "Also Mesut told me that you had your first kiss way earlier with some girl named Cassandre or was it Paula or Elisa... Maybe Eiza? I'm not sure he talked about a lot of ex-girlfriends..."

"Fine. You know what? Kissing is very unique. Too some, like me, it comes natural. Others need practice. Either way, she's so obsessed with you she'll probably faint as soon as your lips come close to hers..."

James wanted to tell him that he wasn't helping at all with that advice but was interrupted by Zidane telling them to run some rounds to warm up.

Cristiano needed to run up front of course, to prove he was the fastest in the team (though Gareth was right behind him and didn't even look like he was trying to run fast).

Jogging at a comfortable pace, James was trying to focus on the practice in front of him but ended up thinking about the inevitable first kiss anyway.

Toni cleared his throat next to him, getting his attention. 

"You alright?"

"I'm okay."

He could have lied but James was generally a honest person and something about Toni always made him want to pour his heart out. Maybe it was because he didn't talk much himself, which made him a good listener. 

"I don't know how to kiss. I'm sure Daniela is getting inpatient but I'm feeling really unprepared."

"The first kiss you share with a person can raise or lower how much you feel attracted to them..."

"Oh."

"It is weird. I know it from YouTube. Sorry."

James giggled. 

"It's fine. If anything it made me more nervous though..."

"Sorry..."

"You already said that. Wait. You had girlfriends right? Do you have any advise?"

"I only had one girlfriend and the only thing I can tell you is that you have to practice..."

James hung his head.

"That's the same thing Cris told me. Only problem is that I can't really practice till tomorrow..."

Toni muttered something under his breath.

"What?" 

"My brother practiced with his friend before they got their first girlfriends. If you want I could help you. You could come over to my place after training." Toni proposed.

James mood brightened.

"You would do that?! Wow, you're a great friend Toni! Thanks!" He beamed.

At least James didn't think about his date anymore for the rest of practice, his head was way too occupied thinking about what would happen after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This would have almost been longer but I'm tired and I wanted to upload something tonight so here you have it...  
> I'm going to sleep now. I have an English test and a French vocabulary test tomorrow *blurgh* and I really don't want to go to school but it's unavoidable... You probably don't care(so why am I telling you this?!)...xD


	3. Kissing practice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kissing practices and stuff...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry for taking so long to update. I had really busy week, part of which was a lot of fun(that part being me going to the Czech Republic-Germany match in Hamburg on the weekend) and other parts less fun(studying for tests and being sick). Anyway here's the chapter and I hope you enjoy.

Toni regretted his words as soon as they left his mouth. 

Sure invite your crush over to your place to practice kissing Toni. What could possibly go wrong?! 

He wanted bang his head against something hard, but he suspected that wouldn't make the best impression on Zidane so he suppressed the urge. 

If James wasn't stupid he was sure to figure out Toni's feelings after the kiss. And even if James really didn't seem too smart sometimes, Toni knew that he was actually pretty clever. 

The problem was that Toni sucked at hiding feelings. 

He wondered how James had managed to not notice Toni's obvious crush till now. There were moments where he really acted very naïve. 

Anyway, Toni was sure that he couldn't keep his feelings concealed anymore after their kiss. 

But he also couldn't call it off. 

James eyes had sparkled with excitement when he had announced he would help and Toni didn't take back any of his promises. Especially not if they were rewarded with a happy James.

He would just have to deal with his secret not being a secret anymore. 

He was sure that James wouldn't have a problem with it. 

Cris was gay and that didn't change how close James was to him. He didn't even think that James would have a problem with Toni's crush on him. 

But it would be different. 

He would start tiptoeing around Toni in order not to hurt his feelings. Stop talking to him about his dates and stuff. Of course every mention of Daniela had made Toni jealous, but he liked the feeling that James told him everything that happened in his life, no matter how unimportant it was. 

Toni never had a lot of friends. 

By choice. He could've had if he wanted to. But he didn't. 

He liked to be able to depend on his friends, instead of having people act as if they had good intentions and then go to talk about you behind your back.

James was loyal. He was loyal and funny and good at football and cute and... Toni had a real list of "and"s, but most importantly James had chosen him as a best friend. For whatever reason.

Toni pushed all his thoughts to the back of his mind, his concentration switching to football. For the rest of training he didn't think of James except when passing to him.

But just like that practice was over. And suddenly all of the thoughts he had held back came flooded into his brain like a typhoon.

He stood next to James in front of the mirror when they were doing their hair. James was talking about a lot of stuff, everything, so to say, except kissing.

Toni send his mom a quick text to check if she really wasn't home and when she confirmed they started their way to Toni's house.  
Since James was chatting away merrily, the walk didn't seem too long. 

As soon as he had unlocked the door and entered the building Toni calmed down a bit.  
He felt safe at home with its white walls and big windows and just its overall homeliness. He had grown to love it in the last two years and it seemed like he had lived there forever.

James went to the fridge, grabbed a few snacks and shot an expecting look Toni's way, waiting for the blonde to lead him to his room. 

It frustrated Toni a little that the younger one acted as casually as if they were going to his room to play Fifa. Because they weren't going to his room to play Fifa. They were going to his room to smooch each other's god damn faces off for "practice" purposes.

James sat down on Toni's bed leaving room for him to join. That was the moment Toni realized that he should be the teacher here and probably be doing something else than be starring awkwardly at his, with wallpapers from various football and NBA players plastered, walls. He sat down next to James.

"So for this kissing thing you need to be relaxed, you need to want to kiss can't go and just smash your face against someone else's..." He started and was embarrassed by how stupid he sounded.

James thankfully overlooked his poor choice of words. And he did sound a little nervous when he started speaking.

"Can I just try to learn it by doing? I'm probably awful anyway... You won't laugh, right?"

Toni just made a "you really think I'd do something like that?!" face in response.

"Let's kiss!" James exclaimed.

Toni just nodded numbly. For a second nothing happened, then Toni remembered that James was his apprentice and he did his job of leaning in and starting the kiss.

It felt awkward at first. It wasn't one of these "their lips were made to fit perfectly" situations. But Toni didn't care. 

The only thing Toni cared about was that he was kissing James Rodriguez. And it felt better than in his dreams, because this was real. 

He almost forgot that he was only here to help practice and that it would be Daniela who'd be kissing those lips all the time if James' date went smoothly. Almost. 

After Toni had gotten over the first sensation of kissing the cutest sophomore on earth aka James he noticed what a natural James was. That boy was crazy if he seriously thought he needed kissing lessons. 

His lips were soft and he was very sensitive, carefully brushing his lips against Toni's. 

Toni could do this all day, but felt like it was his duty to actually teach something so he added tongue to the kiss. 

James gasped, caught by surprise. 

Toni didn't want this to end and it seemed as if James didn't either since he kept kissing him after he separated for air. 

They kissed for a few minutes and when both of them were out of breath, Toni brought a few inches between them. 

He wanted to ask if James felt prepared enough now, but before he could open his mouth James blurted out.

"I'm calling off the meeting with Daniela!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was supposed to have another part but it would have taken another day to write and I try to keep all chapters around a thousand words which is why I left it out, but it will follow soon;) I love reading your comments and I reply to all of them as soon as I see them. The feedback for this story is overall so positive it makes me happy <3  
> (Sorry for the Seriker lack this chapter btw...xD)


	4. Missing chalk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toni is confused. James says things he can't take back.
> 
> Chalk goes missing in Mr. Höwedes classroom and he asks Mr. Hummels for some.
> 
> Mr. Hummels has an announcement.
> 
> Meanwhile Cristiano is totally oblivious to all this because he's on his phone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it took me ages to upload this. I'm sorry(I also wrote a Halloween fic as a sorry gift). I still have a lot of school stuff going on, but I'm also a lazy piece of shit and had writers block. I want to thank the commenters. I know I answer all of them really late, but I read them immediately. Sometimes they are what gives me the motivation to write on...

"James, wait!" Toni looked sincerely shocked. "You don't have to. You did well, trust me!"

James knew that he should probably explain his prior statement. 

"Do you want to be my boyfriend?" 

The words were out and he couldn't just take them back. Not that he would take them back if he could.  
Because after James had kissed Toni he knew it wouldn't be as good with anyone else. Not with Daniela. Not with any other girl or even boy. 

Of course one could call him naïve. He had never kissed anyone else in his whole life.  
How was he supposed to know?  
But James just knew. His heart told him so. He had never been as sure of anything as he was of the fact that the kiss had been so great because it had been Toni he kissed. 

He liked Toni more than any girl he had ever met and knew that he had to be with him. 

Never mind that he didn't even know he was gay before now. 

The smile on Toni's face warmed James' heart. "You wouldn't play with my feelings..." Toni said, still smiling. And even when it was more of a statement than a question, James replied. "Never!" 

James knew how cheesy that must have sounded, but he didn't care. Instead he leaned over to pursue his new favorite activity, kissing Toni. 

They kissed and giggled and talked and pretty soon an hour was over. And then two. And then a voice echoed through the house. 

"Toni, I'm home!"

They tore apart.

"Good thing she gave us a warning!" Toni grinned and it almost seemed a little cheeky. James liked that grin.

Toni's mom knocked, before opening the door.

"Oh. Hello James. I didn't know you'd be here. What a pleasant surprise."

James couldn't contain a grin.

"Yeah. I needed a little help. I've sorted it out now thanks to Toni."

Motherly she ruffled their hair. "That's nice. Do you want to stay for dinner?"

"Ehm... Actually I was just about to leave. But thank you for the offer." He answered, displaying his best manners and flashing his best mom seducing smile.

\---

Hummels was scribbling something on the black board and with no distraction (Iker had English with Ms. Götze) and a subject which could keep him half way interested, Sergio was actually listening. Cristiano on the other hand was not, typing away happily on his phone. 

There was a knock on the door and Mr. Höwedes poked his head inside of the classroom.

"Hey, ehm, excuse me, but do you have any chalk for me? Mine always goes missing..."

Mr. Hummels grinned and it looked a tiny bit brassy. "Your chalk goes missing?"

"Yes." Sergio could see that Mr. Höwedes was fighting the urge to roll his eyes as well as suppressing a smile. A strange combination.

It wasn't the first time that week Höwedes had asked for chalk. Apparently, Sergio had been told by Pilar, Mr. Hummels had ordered all the freshmen who had class with Höwedes to steal his chalk. Sergio did think that was going a little too far, but since no one was really harmed he couldn't see why not.

"Let's see if I could find some for you." Mr. Hummels stood up slowly, organizing all his papers first so that it all was in one tidy stack. Sergio knew that Mr. Hummels wasn't a clean freak. He was doing this to annoy Mr. Höwedes.

"Could you maybe do so a bit quicker?" Höwedes asked with a pointed glance to the clock.

"I don't think your student's will mind missing a bit of class", Mr. Hummels replied with a challenging look.

A few people laughed.

"You're right." Höwedes agreed. 

Hummels looked up in surprise. 

"I bet they won't mind if they know I'm here, keeping you from teaching about...", he glanced to the black board,"...an author that died over a hundred years ago."

An admiring whisper went through the class. "Well done Mr. Höwedes!" Someone yelled from the back. Mr. Höwedes took a little bow. The class started cheering. 

"Mr. Höwedes is certainly enjoying the glory. Wonder what kind of payback Mr. Hummels will come up with..." Sergio commented poking Cristiano in his side" Mhm... Yeah, yeah. I totally agree with you..." Cristiano replied distractedly not even bothering to look up from his phone. 

Mr. Hummels, who suddenly didn't have any problem remembering where his chalk was(spoiler alert: the same place as always) gave some to Mr. Höwedes before basically pushing him out of the door. After that he continued his class as if nothing happened, displaying his usual charming self, but everybody in the room knew he was plotting something against the math teacher. Something which probably involved all of the other English teachers as well. This fight wasn't over yet.

\---

Looking up from his notes the clock told Sergio that English was almost over. Ten minutes to go. Time could run fast when you weren't dying of boredom. 

"It's cold in here... Isn't it?" Clarisse whispered to Irina, but Mr. Hummels, who was done writing down the important parts of their discussion about Edgar Alan Poe, heard. 

Turning around to her, he said with a wink ."Well, miss Alves. Winter is coming." 

Clarisse was wearing one of Marcelo's shirts, a black one with the quote "You know nothing Jon Snow." on it. She didn't understand what Mr. Hummels was getting at, but she giggled and blushed at the wink. 

"Anyway class." Mr Hummels started to announce. "I have some news. Most of you were in London last year visiting our partner school." 

The class murmured in agreement. They all remembered. It had been a lot of fun. The boys from Arsenal and they really clicked. 

"This is going to be very exciting for you..." Mr. Hummels stopped mid sentence when he finally noticed Cristiano was on his phone.

"I guess not all people thought our visit in England was that fun." Mr. Hummels was now pacing up and down in front of Sergio's and Cristiano's desk and it made Sergio nervous, but Cris was painfully oblivious. "Disappointing. I actually expected Mr. Ronaldo to be especially happy about..." Before he could finish, Cristiano whisper shouted:

"Mesut is coming here with his school!". 

All eyes were on him. And that was the first time Cris looked up in over an hour. He was faced with a shocked Mr. Hummels. He mumbled a few apologies and lay his phone face down on the table in front of him. 

When Mr. Hummels had gathered himself, being completely thrown off by Cris' comment he continued where he had left off. "Since Cristiano ruined my big reveal I guess you can pack up now. The guys will come here from England in two weeks on Tuesday. I'll give you some closer information next lesson."

There was a lot of excited chatter on the way out especially from Cristiano, who had been apparently texting Mesut for the last few hours. Everyone was excited and happy to see their British friends again. The two weeks couldn't be over soon enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I warned you guys in the tags that I couldn't leave Arsenal out of this...xD Also it makes total sense that a school with Real Madrid stars as students and German national team players as teachers would have Arsenal as a partner school...xD 
> 
> The Rivalry between English and Maths teachers are supposed to be Schalke and Dortmund(I know Mats isn't at Dortmund any more that's just one of the things I ignore)...
> 
> I hope you like this <3


	5. A day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A totally normal day in the life of Iker. Or is it?!
> 
> James is hiding from his problems(literally)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm SO sorry for not updating for so long. I'll really try to get better at this. It's just, I get home from school late and am just always so god damn tired and unmotivated. I blame winter. When motivation did strike me at times I lacked ideas for this chapter and instead to wrote chapters which are way further into this story. Anyway, there's more Iker in this chapter, since I noticed we haven't seen much of him yet. Also, I added titles to the chapters*squee*(I'm awful at naming chapters xD)

Iker was having a day. Not a good day. But not a bad day either. Just a really normal day. He was fine with that, didn't need anything more. 

He handed in his English papers on time, normal.  
Ms.Götze told him he wrote great texts and should participate more, normal.  
He mumbled an excuse that he struggled to find the right words while talking, also normal. 

He and Miss Götze had had this conversation all the time. She persistently tried to get him to talk in class, but he didn't. Iker wasn't shy or anything. Words just weren't his ford. He couldn't form a speech out of thin air, he had to think about it. Sergio was the one to hold the motivational speeches. Iker was the one to scold or compliment the players. The work was the divided evenly and they worked like that perfectly. 

Anyway Iker's day was completely normal.

-

"Did you hear that Arsenal are coming?" Cristiano asked with unusual excitement. Iker could guess from Sergio's face that Cris hadn't shut up about it since he had found out.

"Yeah of course. I already asked if Mesut could stay with me, since we haven't talked in a while." The shocked look on Cristiano's face was delightful and Sergio and Iker laughed their hearts out. Cristiano pouted the rest of the way, which was fine with Iker because he could talk to Sergio.

-

"Math is actually really easy. We'll have that out of the way in no time and still have time for something else!"  
"Or we could start with something else and do that until we don't have time for math!" 

Iker gave Sergio a reprimanding look, though he also smiled warmly. 

"Okay fine, we'll start with math" Sergio gave in, sounding annoyed. 

"Guys, less flirting more running!" Pepe said running past them with a sly smile. 

"Really? WE should stop flirting? Has he seen James and Toni?! They aren't even running, they are just sitting on the bench!" Sergio complained. "They are tying their shoes!" Iker tried to explain. "Tying their dicks together, more likely..." Sergio snorted. Iker gave him a reassuring pat on the back and started running a bit faster next to him.

He kept a clean sheet during the practice game, even with Cris on the other team, who seemed especially determined today, maybe wanting to score a goal as revenge for the little prank from before. And after training he was able to anticipate a fun afternoon with his best friend, since he was his new math tutor. 

So maybe it wasn't just a normal day, but a good one too.

-

"See, told you it's not that hard." Iker grinned triumphantly.  
"That's all there is to it?"  
"Yeah!" Iker nodded.  
"I can't believe it's that easy."  
"But it is!" Iker laughed. 

He hadn't stopped being happy since he had first entered the house and had taken in the smell of the infamous Tapas that Sergio's mom made. It all felt so familiar as if he'd never been gone. As if his last visit hadn't been almost two months ago. 

He felt a little ashamed to have neglected Sergio that much recently. Not purposely of course. He had a lot to do. School, helping Sara with her newborn sibling, but none of that justified neglecting his best friend. 

When had he started feeling like hanging out with Sergio was a chore?  
When had he started thinking he was being generous to spend his time with him?  
When had he started to forget that it was the other way around, that he should be thankful to have such a great best friend?  
When had he started to forget how much it relaxed him to hang out with Sergio?  
When had he started to forget how beautiful Sergio was?

Wait.  
He had never thought Sergio was beautiful. 

Not bad looking. But beautiful, no. That wasn't how you should think of your best friend. Could it be that he had a crush on Sergio? 

This was definitely a weird day for Iker.

\----

James had been tiptoeing around school all day. He wanted to avoid one encounter at all cost. Which meant for him that he stood up and left classes as fast as possible as soon they were over. It also explained why he was standing in an offside hallway eating his lunch alone.

He almost had a heart attack when someone lightly touched his shoulder from behind. 

Spinning around on the spot, he let out a sigh of relief when it he saw it was Toni he was facing. In fact he was so happy he pulled him close, hugging him tightly. "Thank god, it's only you." 

Toni raised a questioning eyebrow at him. " Are you avoiding me? You were nowhere to be found today..." 

James took a step back. "No, I wasn't hiding from you..." In a hushed voice he went on. "I just really don't want to meet Daniela, that would be so awkward. I promised I'll explain to her after school why I called the date off, but it would be strange talking to her before that." 

"Good." Toni grinned shyly, scratching the back of his head.  
"I thought you maybe had changed your mind-"  
"I would never!"  
"But if that's not the case I wanted to ask if you want to come over watch a movie?" 

"That sounds great! Sure I'll come." James hugged him again.  
He didn't want to let go. 

Both were grinning, starring into each others eyes. 

After a few seconds they looked away, laughing awkwardly. 

"Well, I got to get going. See you later then..." Toni leaned down and gave James a small peck on the cheek, before basically running off. 

With a *thud* James leaned back on one of the lockers. He shook his head smiling, rubbing the spot where Toni's lips had touched his cheek a moment ago. He didn't quite understand how they could make out effortlessly the day before and now be to shy to even kiss properly, but he didn't really mind. At least he now knew they would take the time they needed. 

He felt very happy.

At least, until a familiar voice called him back to reality. "Oh right", he remembered, he still had something to get out of the way. Daniela who was now standing in front of him, was a painful reminder of that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DOES Iker have a crush on Sergio? WHAT will James tell Daniela? WILL she take it well?  
> For all this, tune in next time(probably in a couple weeks, you know me...xD) to "He's my best friend"


	6. Blonde

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daniela and James talk and Mats searches for a beanie(he hates his boyfriend).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmm. It's been a while. Well, I promise I won't discontinue this. I will definitely finish this, but it could take some time. I got distracted(with an awesome musical called 'Hamilton'). So here's my upload, almost two months since the last one. For those who have been waiting and have forgotten what happened before, a brief summary:
> 
> Sergio totally loves his bff Iker.
> 
> James wants to date Daniela, but turns out he's also in love with his bff(Toni) and now he's got some explaining to do.
> 
> The English and Math teachers are having prank wars. Their leaders are Mats Hummels and Benedict Höwedes and someone will pay.

"You've been hiding from me!" Daniela stated matter of factly. James stared down at his feet. His white Nike shoes had a little dirt at the tip. 

"Yeah..." He agreed. Daniela was good at reading him, there was no point in lying. "Are you mad at me?" For some reason the thought made James pretty nervous. 

"No... A little sad, I must admit. I really thought this could turn into something. But honesty is so much in these situations. It would've broken my heart even more if we were a thing and you broke it off." 

James winced. She was "heartbroken"... 

"I really like you Daniela." 

"I really like you too, James..." 

Now it was her turn to look at the ground. There were some tears glimmering in her eyes. James wondered if she also noticed the dirt on his shoes. 

"Can you keep a secret?" James took a deep breath. "I'm gay!" 

Daniela looked a little shocked, then she muttered. "Fricking Alves called it..."  
"What?"  
"Clarice, she always thought you were gay. Said you were too nice and that you couldn't possibly sway your hips like that just because you are Colombian heritage..." Daniela gave him a small smile. He smiled back. 

"Just because I'm not mad, doesn't mean my brother isn't angry at you!" She grinned. He mirrored her expression.  
"Well, then I'm lucky he's in England!"  
"Oh, no. Haven't you heard that his school is coming here soon?"  
"What?!"  
"Yeah, they'll come in a week." 

That had James concerned. One of the main reasons he wasn't dating Daniela already was her brother, David, a tall and brooding guy, who was ready to kill any other male who dared to come in an arms length reach of his sister. He kinda had to be thankful for Daniela's scary brother, because otherwise he probably wouldn't be together with Toni now. His thoughts must have been written on his face, cause Daniela laughed. "Just kidding", she said, "I didn't tell him about you!" 

They were quiet for a moment. 

"Thanks for being honest." She said, already walking away.  
"Wait, Daniela?" She turned back to him. "Promise not to tell anyone!" She nodded, before turning around a corner and disappearing out of his sight.

\---

Mats woke up in a great mood. He got out of bed without a problem, for once not cursing how early he had to get up for his job. 

He made himself a coffee and carefully sipped it, to avoid burning his tongue. When he had started working as a teacher he drank his coffee with milk, but he realized pretty soon that he needed to get all the caffeine in his body at once and couldn't enjoy the luxury of milk. 

A glance at his watch told him, that there was still plenty time for a nice and warm shower. He even allowed himself to sing as the warm water messaged his scalp. 

Of course he knew what the source of his happiness was. His boyfriend had paid him a surprise visit in the evening. He had been there while Mats graded papers and listened to him complain about the horrible grammar of some students. He did make a little fun of him sometimes, copying Mats whining voice about some of the most idiotic mistakes, but it was all fun and games. 

They hadn't even had sex that night. They were past the stage where everything was physical, they connected on a deeper level. It wasn't that Mats couldn't appreciate his lovers body. He shouldn't think about it in the shower though, if he wanted to come to school on time. 

Whistling some tune, he got out of the shower, ready to style his hair. He looked up at the mirror and... froze. He barely contained a scream, but he made a choked sound in the back of the throat. 

He was staring back at himself in the mirror and everything was still normal, except, except, well, except he was blonde... 

\---

That bastard! Mats was red in the face as he stormed out of the house to his car. He had even wondered why his boyfriend had stayed in the bathroom for so long. Now he knew. 

It wasn't like Mats had never overdone anything. They would get so caught up in their little pranks sometimes, that they would step out off line. And Mats' hair was definitely out of line. Mats was disappointed in his boyfriend, for he should know, how much Mats treasured his hair. "Blonde!" He muttered under his breath all the way to school. 

When he finally parked in his usual spot, he got out of his car immediately and sprinted to the teacher's lounge, careful that none of the students saw the monstrosity, which was his hair. 

He had remembered one of his beanies, which he had left there the other week and which would hopefully cover his hair effectively. 

He took a deep breath before entering and facing his colleagues. All eyes were starring at Mats. 

"Has anyone seen my hat?" He asked distressed. 

"Oh, you mean that black beanie?!" Julian Draxler, a relatively new addition to the math staff, asked. 

Mats eyes lit up. "Exactly! Have you seen it?" 

"No", Julian shrugged, but Mats saw in the gleam of his eyes, that he knew exactly where it was. He cursed under his breath. Benni must have already won him over. 

Speaking of which, he was watching Mats with particular interest.

"Uhh, Matze. Blonde! Very sexy!" He wolf whistled. 

Mats hated that guy so much sometimes. 

Maria and Marco giggled. "Hey you're supposed to be on my side!" Mats complained. "Sorry..." Maria's laughter died, but Marco didn't stop and pretty soon she joined in again, leaning into Marco to hold her. There were bets about when Marco would propose, going on, but everyone at school knew it was just a matter of time until Miss Götze would become Misses Reus. 

Mats was digging through the whole room, turning it upside down on the search for his hat. He was painfully aware of all the others giving him strange looks. Giving his hair strange looks. 

The room slowly emptied, as teachers started to make their way to their respective home rooms and Mats still hadn't found that stupid beanie. He sighed, looking at his watch. He was already running late and it looked as if he'd have to teach with his hair like this. 

Suddenly two arms caught him from behind. Mats turned around facing Benni. The one person, he least wanted to talk to at the moment. Benni was giving him a sincere look, starring into his eyes. "The blonde really suits you." Mats averted his eyes and Benni let off and left, leaving Mats standing alone in the teachers lounge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not completely satisfied with this, but I will try to improve as the story goes on. I just feel like this is kinda dry and some transitions aren't good... 
> 
> So, Hummels died his hair blonde about two months ago, it's already faded, but that's where I got my inspiration from. What's your opinion on his blonde look? Honestly, I hated it. Only Ramsey was able to pull off the unnatural light blonde. Didn't like it on Messi or Neymar either...
> 
> I love feedback btw :D


	7. Sara or David?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sergio contemplates Iker's gayness.
> 
> James bothers his boyfriend in German class.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll keep the authors notes short today, because it's late and I'm tired... I'm sorry for how short this chapter is, but I wanted to upload something to let you know I'm alive. If you want to know if I'm alive and don't want to wait for a chapter you may get once a month or so you can follow me on tumblr(shameless self promo(please I don't know anyone on that platform and I'm new and alone...)), I'm called "bellerinaandmagician"...

Iker had Sergio in a constant state of confusion. Or rather, Iker's sexuality had Sergio in a constant state of confusion.   
   
They had met up after school the day before and it had been so nice, that Sergio had contemplated for a moment, that maybe, it would be enough for him if Iker was just his best friend and not his crush, but unfortunately it wasn't that easy. He loved Iker and that was a feeling he couldn't just ignore, it wasn't as if he'd never tried to.   
   
So there he was, in the car on his way to school, thinking about what the odds were for Iker being gay. Or at least bi. He knew he was pathetic and he embraced it. The whole thing would have been a lot easier though, if he knew anything about Iker's dating history. If Iker had a thing like a dating history.   
   
As far as Sergio knew, Iker had been Single all his life. Pretty weird, if you asked him, especially considering how handsome, intelligent and caring Iker was. But Sergio was drifting of again... It seemed as if Sara and Iker were dating, but it would have been weird from Iker to never mention it to Sergio.   
   
Still, Sergio would have assumed Iker was straight, if there hadn't been David.   
   
David Beckham. Most attractive guy from their Middle School, who had moved back to England right after his last year there.   
   
Sergio remembered that strange feeling in his heart as if it was yesterday, when Iker had reported to him excitedly that David had kissed him. Iker had been fawning over David from that point on. Telling Sergio how cute David was etc. He knew that Iker hadn't been sure about his feelings, which was why David and he hadn't pursued that kind of relationship, but on Sergio it sure as hell had made the impression that Iker was in love with David. And he hadn't liked it. How come Iker was interested in guys, but instead of being attracted to Sergio, his best friend, he just turned gay for some random hot guy?   
   
That should be evidence enough that Iker was a little homosexual at least, but Sergio wasn't convinced. David had left and Iker hadn't wasted a tear over him. Also, that thing was a few years back and everybody was sexually confused in Middle School. Sergio had thought he was straight back then, which was a clear sign to him Middle School feelings couldn't be trusted. And he couldn't just go to Iker and ask: "Remember back in Middle School when you had a total crush on Beckham. Any chance some of those gay vibes are still in you?" No. He could never do that. So there was Sara on one hand and David on the other and a confused Sergio in the middle. But what else is new?

\---

“Did you see Mr. Hummels today?” James whispered leaning in way too close into Toni's personal space, but he figured he was allowed to do that, after all Toni was his boyfriend now. “That hair color is awful, isn't it?!”. 

“That's not a nice thing to say”, Toni whispered back and James almost rolled his eyes. After all it had been Toni who had rubbed his 7-1 victory in a practise game under Marcelo's nose for almost a year and everybody knew how embarrassing that had been for him. 

“Don't you like blond?” Toni asked, pretending to be hurt. James giggled. “Of course I do, love. I just think that no one is able to pull it off as well as you do!” 

“I hope your flirting in German at least, if it can't even wait till after class...” The class giggled when Ms. Götze addressed the two boys. “Nein. Tut uns echt Leid, wir hören schon auf.” Toni replied and Ms. Götze shook her head laughing. “I sure hope so, now get to work.” 

“You make even German sound sexy.” “Shut up.” James grinned, when he saw the blush that appeared on Toni's face. He was pretty sure it was his doing, but maybe Toni was just embarrassed from getting caught by their teacher. “Awww, you know Ms. Götze still loves you. You don't need to worry!” To that Toni just let out an annoyed huff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What Toni says in German isn't really important, he just apoligizes and says they'll keep quiet...
> 
> I love your feedback and really anything keeps me going, if it's just kudos or even a comment, everything is appreciated!


	8. Cappuccino challenge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "The three musketeers" is bad influence on Mats.
> 
> Sisters and long distance relationships suck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm surprised with myself at how quickly I finished this. I also think I've written worse. So I'm making progress. I've finished the outline of the story and I've written parts of future chapters I'm really excited for. Anyway, enjoy...

Benni rubbed his head. He was tired, after a long day of teaching math to, what seemed like, hopeless cases. On top of that, he had managed to piss Mats off majorly and although it had been intended to annoy him, it wasn't supposed to make him that angry. 

Mats hadn't spoken to him since their "talk" in the morning and quite frankly Benedict felt bored.  
Usually he'd be happy not to be disturbed by stupid pranks, but now he missed them. 

He sighed, crossing out a whole task with his red pen.  
Even though they couldn't talk(not to mention touch) the way they normally did, when they were at school, they'd usually at least act out their rivalry with some hallway banter or something.

But today he might as well be air, since Mats completely ignored him. That was the same trick he always used when he was mad at him, but today he was especially stubborn. Usually they'd be making out again at lunch break. 

But lunch break was almost over and Mats seemed to have disappeared, an almost impossible thing given the blonde monstrosity on his head. 

At least Benedict was almost through with the papers he needed to grade(he had to admit, as much as he loved secretly making out with his boyfriend at school, it did keep him from being productive). 

He decided he should probably eat something before class started again, with only ten minutes of his break left. 

And of course that was exactly the moment when Mats finally decided to show up. 

"Mats. I'm really sorry!" Benedict started an apology before being cut off by Mats. "You know what it's fine, keep your speech! I need your help!" 

"Sure. What is it?" Benni was understandably confused, but getting asked for help definitely beat the alternative of fighting about a stupid hair color. 

"Do you remember Schweini and Poldi?" 

"Of course. Podolski wanted to travel the world and Schweini transferred to a school full of dabbing kids." 

Those two guys had been a lot of fun, but Benni had lost count of all the explosions they had had, when those two had taught chemistry at their school.

"Well we have a new chemistry teacher now..." 

"Yeah, I've heard. Thomas Müller or something..." This conversation got more confusing by the second. 

"I challenged him." Mats blurted out. 

"What? Why? When? To what?" 

"Very good you've memorized all questions for an umbrella sentence." Mats said mockingly. 

"If you don't want me to ask maybe you should start telling your story from the beginning." Benedict pouted. 

"Alright. I was having the worst day ever, thanks to my great boyfriend who decided to bleach my hair blonde." He gave Benni a pointed look and Benni quickly mumbled another "Sorry." mainly so Mats would continue his story. 

"That's why I wanted a quick cappuccino to cheer me up after a day of students laughing at me..." Another pointed look, Bene suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. 

"But I still had to copy some passages of Romeo and Juliet for the play, so I tried to balance the cappuccino on top of my papers to open the door with my other hand and completely spilled everything over myself and that idiot Müller laughed." 

Mats seemed to be done, but Benedict thought that the explanation had quite some plot holes. 

"So the logical thing for you to do was to challenge him?" 

"Well yeah. I'm rereading 'The three musketeers' at the moment and listened to the Hamilton soundtrack on the way here, so I was kind of in the "challenging to duels"-mode..." 

Mats blushed, his red cheeks and his blonde hair were such a stark contrast that it should have been ridiculous, but Benni couldn't help, but find it utterly adorable.

"Of course I'll help. To what did you challenge him?"  
"I don't know that is the problem. I didn't specify, but he accepted and now I can't ask or else I'll look stupid." 

"You look pretty stupid to me already." Mats frowned and Bene grabbed his hand and pressed a kiss upon his palm. "But it's his fault for agreeing to something when he didn't know what it was. So it's your choice what you want to challenge him in..." 

Mats grinned. "Prank Wars?" 

Sometimes Benedict seriously wondered when his boyfriend would grow out of this pranking phase, but since he himself was still very involved in the Math vs. English war, he didn't feel like he had the right to judge. 

"Prank Wars!" He agreed. 

\---

"Yuck. I'll never get those images out of my head!" Cristiano shivered. " I mean, can you believe her?! That's my bed! Like my actual bed! I sleep there. Cristiano Ronaldo junior sleeps there." Cristiano cried. 

He looked over his shoulder at his bed, where Ronaldo Jr. sat innocently even after what he just witnessed. It was a custom made plush, which looked just like him in tiny and he had named after himself humble as ever. 

He turned back the screen, where he was video chatting with his boyfriend. 

Mesut laughed. "Trust me, I'm fully on your side! I never understood your sister..." 

Mesut's smile was almost enough to distract him from the images, but it was a little hard to forget something like your sister having sex on your bed. 

"Their only visiting for two days anyway. Can't my sister for once keep her horny hands to herself?! Or, I don't know, use her own bed?" He ran his hand through his hair in distress, not forgetting to be very careful so he wouldn't ruin it.

"Maybe we could get revenge when I come to you..." 

"What do you mean?" 

"Well she has a bed of her own doesn't she..." He trailed off, but Cristiano got the insinuation. 

"Good plan! I like your way of thinking!" 

Mesut winked. "I know".

"I can't wait till you finally come! Did you talk to your teacher yet, about getting the week off so you can spend Christmas here?"

"Yeah. Wenger said that shouldn't be a problem!" Mesut beamed and Cristiano was just as happy about this revelation. A month of Mesut. He was convinced that he didn't need any other Christmas present.

"I love you!" Cristiano said, still smiling.

"I love you too! Less then two weeks to go!"

"Then I can finally hold you again! I'm already counting days!" Leading a long-distance relationship was the hardest thing Cristiano ever had to do, but it was still way easier than totally letting go of Mesut.

"Me too. I have to head out... Mathieu is keeping a presentation on ways to replace earth oil. He's very excited about it. So I shouldn't miss it!" Mesut grinned. "Balboa says hi! Love you, bye!"

"Bye! Talk tomorrow!" Cristiano couldn't help the pang of jealousy that came with the mention of Mathieu. It wasn't even that he was afraid that Mesut would cheat on him. And he liked Mathieu, he really did(Mesut had introduced them per Skype once). But he couldn't help to feel jealous of every single person that got to see Mesut every day. Of every person that could just ruffle his hair, touch him, if they felt like it. 

He sighed.

He decided he should take a selfie, because the lighting was good, before telling Martha to change the sheets again. Better safe than sorry.

He missed his always smiling, extremely lazy boyfriend and wished Tuesday would come a little sooner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ThoMats challenge is hilarious. I'm also very happy that Mats is just as clumsy as I am. So that's where I got that idea. The thing with Cristiano's sister is based on a "news" article I read. Mathieu is Mathieu Flamini of course


	9. Girlfriends are good excuses for English lessons, too bad Toni doesn't have one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> English lessons always get in the way of dates. 
> 
> Toni get's jump scared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's that? Another chapter in the same week? I'm on a roll... The title of this chapter is too long, but I don't give a fuck. This chapter only fluffy Toni and James. I'm sorry if you follow this story for Seriker, it will come eventually, but there are a few things I need to take care of before getting to the main story.

His head hurt. Toni wasn't great at learning languages. He tried to pay attention to his English teacher, but it wasn't exactly easy with James next to him. 

For one, James never really stopped talking and secondly sometimes Toni just couldn't stop himself from starring. Because James was one of the prettiest things he'd ever seen and it didn't really help that he was also his boyfriend now. 

Trying to balance listening to the teachers lecture and whatever James was saying, while still having to translate everything in his thoughts, was causing his head to hurt, but he didn't want to interrupt James. So he had to bare it. 

To be honest the cute Colombian kid, that had kept talking to him not really caring that he only understood half of it all, had been a huge part of Toni's motivation to actually study for his English. 

Luckily Isco called for James attention and James got engrossed in a conversation with him instead. Isco and James had a special relationship. Apparently they had been best friends in Middle School, but had grown apart as they grew older, at least that was the story James had told Toni, who kind of suspected that one of the actual reasons was that they'd been the only two freshmen who made the team and were constantly in competition for their space in the starting line up. But he kept those thoughts for himself. After all they were still on relatively friendly terms. 

At the end of class, Toni had managed quite well, James caught his arm preventing him from leaving. 

"Wanna go to my place after school?" His smile was probably bright enough to outshine the sun. 

"I'd love to, but", Toni pulled James with him and made sure that nobody was around before placing a gentle kiss upon his lips,"I have my English course today!" 

He detested seeing the light vanish from James eyes, even more being the cause of it. But it was true. 

His dad had forced him and his brother to take extra English lessons as soon as they'd moved to the US. 

Felix had quit them by now. He was quick with learning new languages and barely even sounded German anymore when speaking English. He had to promise to keep studying with his girlfriend though, which was a promise he made without thinking twice, waggling his eyebrows saying that she'd surely make him behave. Toni almost rolled his eyes at the memory. His mother had scolded Felix a little for the remark, but you could tell she wasn't serious, and his dad had coughed to hide a laugh. 

Toni was sure he wouldn't have to go to this stupid English tutoring thing if he had a girlfriend. His parents were kind of pushy on the topic and though he knew they meant well, they were worried he'd may feel lonely, it was pretty annoying. Especially since Toni wouldn't sit down his parents anytime soon to give them "the talk" and tell them that he was actually already in a happy and stable relationship with a GUY. So they probably wouldn't quit asking about girls at school in near future. 

"What do you take English lessons for? You're already great at it!" James asked and Toni genuinely couldn't tell if he was joking or not. 

"Are you kidding? I'm awful at English...Half of the time I have no clue what's going on!" 

"You understand me!" 

That was a fair point to make. 

"Well, you always talk extra slow so I can understand you", also I actually care about what you're saying. 

James sighed. "So no date today?" 

"Nope sorry!" 

"Well okay see you later!" 

Toni cringed a little when James gave him a big kiss without making sure they had their privacy. 

\---

At least the lesson was almost over, Toni mused, while filling out the last work sheet of the day. His teacher was typing on his phone in the meantime. He sighed. He'd like to be almost anywhere else than here right now. Preferably with James. He let out a breath of relief when he finally filled in the last gap and sprinted out off the classroom after handing it over without letting his teacher correct it first. 

He was just out of the door when a voice from behind said "Hi Toni!", making him jump almost as high as himself. 

"Jesus Christ!" He muttered, turning around to face James. "Did you intend on giving me a heart attack?"  
James was leaning against the wall of Toni's teachers house in a completely cool and collected way. Only thing missing was the leather jacket and gum bubbles.

"No, but I should have guessed that that's the effect I have on you!" He grinned and pulled Toni in for a kiss, but Toni pushed him away carefully. 

"Not here. Maybe my teachers stalking me out of the window!" He cast a nervous glance up to the windows, which were decorated with extremely ugly curtains.

"Fine then let's go somewhere else!" James said and lead him away by his hand. Toni allowed him that much. 

They were strolling through a tiny park, that was mostly famous for the even tinier skate park it had. 

"So does this English teacher of yours have a name?" Asked James, cocking his head to the side. 

"I bet he does, but I forgot it." Toni swung their arms back and forth, while they were walking. 

"Is he hot at least?" 

"Not really, I mean I guess, but not as hot as you!" 

"What's the point of your lessons then?!" James remarked, ignoring the compliment, but Toni swore James cheeks tinted pink. But maybe it was just the bad lighting of the street lamps. 

It was getting dark earlier every day and even in California it sometimes got considerably cool. 

Nothing to what Toni was used to from Germany of late November, but still. Toni noticed that James was trying to hide the fact that he was freezing and decided to be a gentleman. 

"Do you want me to give you my jacket?" He asked, but James declined happily, stating that they should probably go home, before their parents could start getting worried. Though Toni understood, he would have liked to refuse. 

It was even more disappointing than Toni had expected when they arrived at his doorstep. He had enjoyed the casualty of this. It felt like they were a real couple. Because they were a real couple he reminded himself. 

"It was very nice of you to pick me up!" He pushed an imaginary strand of hair behind James' ear. 

"I loved it!" James whispered back. 

He was about to give Toni his jacket back(Toni had insisted), but Toni stopped him. "You still have to walk home. I don't want you to get sick and leave me alone at school because of me..." James giggled. Toni pressed another kiss on his cheek before pressing the doorbell. 

Toni's mother opened the door. No surprise, because his dad was never home at this time and Felix was probably to lazy to get up from the couch. 

Her face lit up when she saw James. 

"What are you doing here?" Beaming and directing her question at James.

"We bumped into each other and I decided to walk him home!" 

"Aww. That's so sweet of you. I'm really glad you're Toni's friend," Toni and James exchanged glances.

"I know he can always count on you." Both Toni and James were blushing now and deliberately looked in different directions. 

After a while of awkward silence James started talking. "Ehm. I'll get going. Pleasure seeing you again Mrs. Kroos." 

"The pleasure is mine." 

When James had left, Toni smiled to himself. His mom was right. 

James really was the cutest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Real Madrid won against Bayern and that makes me happy. King Cristiano with that hat trick though. It was an ugly win thanks to the referee, but a win nonetheless and I'm posting this earlier than I thought as celebration!


	10. Shadows of the past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iker plays football with Sara.
> 
> Sergio does(or should be doing) math homework.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm too tired for A/N's. But look, my chapters are getting longer...

He didn't even have to move to get to the ball, it landed right in his hands. 

Sara stood there laughing her heart out. "Oops!" 

"You shoot like a girl!" Iker called, also laughing while shaking his head at the same time. 

"I wouldn't have pegged you for a sexist Iker!" Sara remarked in a fake offended sounding voice. 

The truth was, Sara was actually quite good at football. But they'd been training penalties for almost half an hour and she was getting less and less concentrated. 

Iker admired Sara's kindness. He knew that she thought this was boring, but her coming out to the pitch with him anyway showed what a great friend she was. 

Iker was the absolute contrary. He had even lied to her about having to practice. Actually Iker didn't have a big problem with penalties, but he had needed to get out of the house to play some football to get some thoughts out off his head. 

Football was the only thing he'd found until now, that let him turn his mind off. 

But the sun was starting to set and it was getting late, so he decided they should probably head home. 

He looked over to Sara and the sun was letting her shine in a golden light. 

She looked pretty. 

It was totally normal to find his friends pretty. Or beautiful. 

It didn't have to mean anything. 

He wasn't attracted to Sara, but objectively he knew she was pretty. He wasn't attracted to Sergio, yet he knew he was beautiful. Easy as that. 

"Stop thinking!" Sara said with a concerned look. 

"I'm not!" Iker argued, letting the ball travel along at his feet, as they made their way out of the park. 

"Stop lying! I know you and your brows are touching you are furrowing them so hard!" 

Iker wished he weren't that easy to read. "Fine. I was just thinking that you look pretty." 

She was laughing when she answered. "Please tell me this won't be another awkward attempt at flirting!" 

Iker shook his head. "Trust me it's not. I left that behind me 5 years ago!" 

The memory was hilarious. Iker had made a fool out of himself and Sara had every right to make fun of him. At least he had gained a great friend out of it. 

The reason he had wanted to get together with her, had been truly stupid even for sixth graders. 

He just thought that it made sense for them to be a couple.They had written for the school paper together, both of them were popular and she was head of the swimming club, while he was captain of the youth football team.  
Iker acted, because from what he had observed, that was the logical thing to do in their social situations. 

No feelings whatsoever involved. 

Looking back he knew why he had gotten compared to Spock more than once. 

Anyway, she had shut him down immediately after the third horrible attempt at complementing her and called him idiot. He instantly liked her. 

They were just out of the park when Iker's phone signaled him. 

"Wyd?" A text from Sergio popped up on his screen. Of course. Sergio would have timing like that. Just when he had managed to get him out of his head. A small voice in the his head whispered, that if it was nothing he wouldn't need to get him out of his head, but Iker ignored it. 

"W-y-d? What does that mean?" Iker questioned Sara. He was awful at this kind of stuff. 

"Come on Iker! Just because you feel like your the grandpa of your team, doesn't mean you get to act as if you're seventy! Go with the time!" Sara scolded. 

"Tsk. The younger generation has no respect of elders." He said waving a finger in the air. "Please. I don't want to google it." He begged.

"It means 'What are you doing?" I'm sure you could have figured that out on your own." 

Iker nodded. That made sense. He still didn't understand why people couldn't just take the time and spell out the words. He knew Sergio, it wasn't like he was ever too busy or anything. 

"It sounds like a fuckboy text though. I wouldn't respond." Sara continued. 

Iker raised an eyebrow. "First of all, I'm unsure how you can read that much about a person out of three letters. Secondly it's Sergio, he's my best friend not a fuckboy and even if he was, I'm not gay." 

Sara muttered something, that sounded suspiciously like "David." but he gave her a free pass, since he was concentrating on writing back.

\---

Sergio was doing his homework(Iker had forced him to), when a sound from his phone interrupted his thought process. 

A message. 

He stared at his phone, he had placed it on his bed, as far away from himself as possible, and tried to look through it to figure out who texted him. 

He shouldn't get distracted that easily he knew that, he was supposed to be emerged in his math homework, but what if it was someone important? 

What if it was Iker? 

It could be an emergency. He decided it would be careless not to check if everything was alright. 

If someone was dying and he was doing his math homework instead, he would never stop blaming himself. One simple glance, couldn't be that bad, could it? 

Instantly after making that decision, he let everything else drop and practically leapt onto the bed to look at his phone. 

He was very disappointed when he saw who it was. 

Also, like always, he felt a pang of sadness at the name on the screen. 

Fernando. 

Fernando was a stubborn bastard, a lot like himself, still texting him though Sergio never replied. 

He knew Iker had blocked Fernando ages ago, but he couldn't get himself to do it. It would be as if he was erasing history. 

"Hey. We have a match this weekend. Care to come?" Was the text this time. 

Sergio pressed the home button of his phone and starred of into the distance. 

He couldn't go anyway since they had their own match on Sunday in Valen City. Not that it mattered. It wasn't the first time Fernando had offered and it wasn't the last. Sergio never went.  
Though it was tempting. 

Sometimes Fernando would text something else along the line. "I'm sorry, I changed. Want to talk about it over a coffee on Tuesday?" Or. "How are you?" 

And sometimes all he said was. "I miss you." And that hurt the most. 

Because Sergio missed him as well. 

Iker was the greatest friend he could wish for and Sergio loved him with all his heart(like really allhis heart), but they weren't that similar. 

With Fernando both of them had been on waves length. They laughed at the same stupid jokes, could spend hours talking and played pranks together(always on Iker). Fernando had always laughed the loudest when Sergio made a joke. 

A sad smile crept onto his face at the memory of how easy it was to make Fernando laugh.

Iker barely laughed. Getting him to crack as much as a grin was hard and Sergio was proud to be the one who managed it the most often. 

Still Iker was very challenging and it had been nice to get reassurance for his jokes. He sighed. 

Suddenly he was sad. He hated sadness. He wasn't supposed to be the sad one. That was probably more Gareth's part, at least he wrote all those crappy emo poems in Welsh, before he had gotten together with Emma. 

Sergio was the happy, energetic, sometimes obnoxious guy of the group. He knew his role. But now he was sad. 

He decided he had to distract himself. 

"Wyd?" He wrote Iker.  
While Iker was typing, he went looking for his headphones, he knew it would take a while. Iker took ages for anything text message related, always making sure not to make typos and to use correct grammar. 

"Write in complete sentences, idiot. You know I never know what these abbreviations mean..." Sergio rolled his eyes at the word "abbreviations". That was so typical for his Nene... 

Yet he complied. "What are you doing?" He asked. To actually type out the words felt weird. 

"Football with Sara. Why?" The answer came relatively quick. 

Oh great. Sergio was sulking while Iker was out with his girlfriend. 

"Nothing. Have fun!" 

Sergio contemplated maybe texting Marcelo or something, but he didn't feel like it. Didn't feel like doing anything really. 

But his decision was made for him when his phone rings. He picked up. 

"Is everything alright?" Sergio could practically see Iker's concerned look on the other side of the line. 

He tries to let his voice sound upbeat like it usually did. "Yeah sure! You can go back to Sara now!" 

If Sergio were to guess he'd say Iker was furrowing his brows. That was normally a good guess. 

"No. She's gone home. We were just done anyways." Iker paused for a second and when he continued, his voice is so soft, it almost made Sergio burst out in tears. "I know you Sese. Talk to me!" 

Maybe it wasn't a bad idea to get his feelings of his chest. It always helped to talk to Iker and after all Iker was in the same situation. 

"Argh. Well... Okay. So. Fernando texted and now I'm sad!" Sergio struggled getting the words out.

"You still haven't blocked him!" Iker's voice sounded a little harsh and Sergio felt the need to explain himself. "It's not so easy for me. I'm not as strong as you! I never was okay?" 

Iker sighed. His tone was a little more understanding, when he went on. "I know. Sese. It's hard. He was our friend." 

"He was our best friend Iker!" 

He knew that Iker only acted tough. Fernando had drained him too. Even though Iker had seemed more angry than anything else, he had admitted to Sergio that he'd cried the night before Fernando had left their school. 

"We made the right decision!" Iker said, sounding confident. 

"I know... It's been rough though..." Sergio knew Iker was right, but looking back at the good things they had had it felt so easy to forget the reasons why their friendship with Fernando had ended. 

"Hey Sergio!"  
"Hmm?"  
There was a twinkle in Iker's voice. "Finish your homework!" 

"Hey! How did you know-" Sergio began to protest, but Iker had hung up already.

As he did as told, he found that math problems were a good way to distract you from your own problems. He had turned his phone on silent this time.


	11. Naps and great boyfriends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They are on a bus ride and bored. Cheating is never okay. 
> 
> James is angry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I haven't uploaded in ages, but there is always a huge exam period before summer holidays and I had to study so I didn't have time enough to write. But now holidays finally started, so there should be more regular updates again from now on. It's 4AM and I only proofread this once, I'm sorry.

Iker had to admit that the view rushing past them was very admirable. It would have been even more admirable though, if he wasn't forced to look at it by two strong hands making sure he couldn't move. 

"It's no use. I told you it wouldn't work!" He said turning, to look over his shoulder at Sergio. 

"You've ruined it! I almost had it. Stop moving." Sergio hit his arm slightly as a warning. 

"You've been trying to braid my hair for ten minutes now. It's too short." Iker tried to talk some sense into his best friend. 

"You're boring." Sergio answered, not quitting his attempts. 

Sighing, Iker realized that it didn't matter. They were on this bus drive for at least another hour anyway and didn't have anything else to do. Their destination was Leganes, where they would destroy the team of the other school later that day, Iker was sure of it. To be honest as their captain he should probably know not to underestimate any team, but he was very confident that with their ability beating the other team should be easy as pie.

He must have moved accidentally, because he got a reprimanding cough from Sergio. He tried to catch a glance of what Sergio was doing in the reflection of the window, but it was no use. 

Suddenly he heard Marcelo's booming laughter from the front of the bus, which caused his head to jerk up in surprise. 

Sergio threw his hands up in the air. "I quit!" He exclaimed. "You're impossible to work with." 

Iker smiled, finally allowed to settle back into his seat comfortably. "Maybe I'm not the problem, but my hair is." 

"Whose hair should I have braided instead then?" Iker tried spotting anyone on the bus. "Marcelo's" He offered. 

"Too frizzy." 

"Isco's hair is growing quite long." 

"He's flirting with Alvaro, I don't want to interrupt." 

Iker gave up. "You shouldn't have cut your own hair then. It was definitely long enough." He smiled at the memory of Sergio's long hair. He had loved running his fingers through it, he had found nothing that was as soothing since. Also it had looked cute. 

"Nah. It was annoying. Too much work." 

Cool. It had looked cool, not cute. Iker hated how often he made this kind of mistakes recently. 

"I'm not exactly sure that's true", Iker replied, considering the time it took Sergio to get ready in the morning. Brushing his hair plus adding a headband couldn't possibly take Sergio longer than using half a bin of gel to make sure every hair strand stayed in place. 

Sergio shrugged, before slumping down resting his head on Iker's shoulder. Iker made sure not to move until Sergio was slightly snoring. He ran his fingers through Sergio's short hair absentmindedly and was thankful he had advised Sergio not to wear gel on the bus. 

Was this normal? He asked himself. Did best friends normally do that? 

Yes. He had always done that. He answered his own question.  
It was weird that he was suddenly so aware of it. If he stopped now, than it'd be out off the ordinary.  
He kept stroking Sergio's hair, but was suddenly very self conscious, about it. 

He tried tuning in to the conversation the other guys where having. They weren't exactly quiet so it wasn't that hard. 

"Cheating is cheating, no matter what the reason is!" Cristiano protested. 

"I know! But what I'm saying is that there are situations where it's okay to cheat!" Marcelo answered in a serious voice. 

"No there aren't!" 

Cris and Marcelo were occupying a four seater with Gareth and Luka sitting across from them.

"What's your opinion?" Cris turned to the others. 

Gareth answer came fast. "I'd never cheat!" Of course not, Iker thought. He was incredible happy with Emma. 

Luka just looked confused, but that was normal. Marcelo took his small shrug as victory for his side. 

"See Lukita is practically agreeing with me!" 

"I mean if you think you found someone better you should at least have the guts to break up with your girl first!" 

Iker shook his head in annoyance. Couldn't they talk about anything interesting? 

He turned back to his window. 

When he awoke, they had arrived and Sergio was still pressed to his side.

Also, a bunch of their teammates were standing around there seat and it looked as if Cristiano was snapping pictures (Iker would have to make sure to let him delete those pictures later(he always made a stupid face while sleeping)). 

Sergio stirred awake as well and Lucas started grinning. "The grandparents have finally woken up!" 

Iker wondered for how long they had stood there staring at them. 

"Ah you pesky little children!" Sergio sat up, waving a finger at their surrounders. Iker shivered, as he suddenly lost Sergio's extra warmth. "Can't even let your grandparents get some rest!" 

Lucas laughed and Sergio laughed and Iker couldn't help but smile at Sergio, who had such a great connection to all the players. Just a few days ago he had seen him and Lucas practicing an elaborate handshake together, that looked kind of silly, but also fun. For some reason, he felt a sense of pride rise inside of his chest.

\---

He could see James pushing past Zidane to the bench and how Zidane furrowed his brows, much rather in confusion than in anger. This wasn't usual behavior from James and Toni and the coach both knew it.

For the rest of the game Toni kept his mind occupied with football, only throwing some worried glances at the bench, where James still hadn't shown up, after marching into the locker room enraged after being taken off.

After everybody else had left the dressing room Toni sat down next to James. He held him for a few seconds before James started to speak.

"It's just so unfair you know!"

Toni nodded. He understood, of course he didn't have that problem, but he still thought he knew what it must feel like to never play the full ninety minutes.

"You know I'm doing everything I can." James was almost shouting. "I train as hard as I can, so I can play the best that I can. I play the best that I can and it still isn't enough!"

Once again Toni nodded. Even though James voice sounded angry, his face was more disappointed than anything else. It hurt Toni to see him like that.

"And look I know, I know, I can't play 90 minutes every game. Not with a team like this.” He paused, staring at his own hands, his face a display of sadness. “But after a game like this, I thought I’d get a chance for once, because if I can't even play ninety after a goal and an assist, I know that I never will.”

It takes all of Toni’s self control not to interwind their fingers, but people could walk in any minute.

“You really played great.” Toni said, kindly forcing James to look up with one of his hands. 

 

James nodded slowly and swallowed. Toni could see his Adam’s apple move up and down.

“I’m sure Zidane likes you! Didn't he say that you're really important for the team just recently?!”

“He did.” James grudgingly admitted. “And I never thought he didn't, but I’m saying he likes others more!”

Toni felt guilty. His place in the starting lineup was never in question. He always got to play the full time. And he wasn't any older than James.

“I don't mean you!” James continued as if he could read his mind. “You’re incredible, a different league than Isco and I. I train so hard so that I can be as good as you!”

There was a small smile playing around James lips, while his eyes where still sad, but Toni felt a warmth spreading inside him by the admiration he saw in James eyes while talking about him.

“But you are just as incredible! And I know someday someone else recognizes it too!” Toni smiled.

James smiled back. “Thanks. For making me feel better... I know it's ridiculous, it's just… Thanks for being there!”

Suddenly his hand was at the back of Toni's neck and he was leaning in for a kiss, but Toni shoved him away.

He felt bad about it immediately, but he panicked. Someone could come in and see them. Tell his parents and the team. Maybe they wouldn't be allowed to play any longer. Toni knew most of these thoughts were ridiculous, after all Cristiano was out and had a boyfriend none of that stuff had happened, but Cristiano also played like a world champion so maybe he was an exception. It was better if no one knew about their relationship.

Still, the angry and sad look on James face made him feel extremely guilty.

“Wow. Thank you. Great to have a boyfriend who won't even kiss me!” James snarled.

All of Toni's guilt disappeared at once. James had absolutely no right to be that mad.

“People could find out about us!” He whispered, trying to keep his own anger hidden and be reasonable.

“Wait! So now you're ashamed of me?” James gathered his stuff together before he got up from the bench angrily.

The way he misinterpreted Toni's statement, just out of stubbornness, just because he didn't really want to understand what Toni meant, made Toni stumble across his own words searching for a reply.

“No! I'm… I’m just not…” He tried to express himself, yet suddenly it felt so hard finding the right words in English. 

Throwing one last look at him, paired with an annoyed “Whatever!”(which made it clear that it was the contrary whatever), James stormed out of the locker room.

Toni was left alone.

Well that escalated quickly.

Toni had a hard time processing how they'd gone from complementing each other, to fighting and slamming doors in the next. Something was strange with James today. First he had gotten angry at their coach and now at him. 

He started packing up his clothes and getting ready to leave as well when he heard someone entering.

For a moment he hoped it was James. Coming back to apologize for his behavior. But it was only Iker.

He tried to hide his obvious disappointment. Iker barely ever spoke to him anyway and seemed kind of grumpy most of the time (except when he was with Sergio), so he didn't want him to feel as if Toni didn't like him.

Iker gave him a long look. “Oh. You're still here!” He stated the obvious, way too late, which made it kind off awkward.

“Yeah…” Toni muttered.

There was a silence, before Iker spoke again. “Well, hurry up! We wanna go out and celebrate after we get to the hotel!”

He turned around and looked as if he was about to leave, but apparently changed his mind, because he stopped dead in his tracks, before suddenly crossing the locker room with a few big steps and sitting down on the bench right next to Toni.

“What's wrong?”

**Author's Note:**

> I really appreciate feedback, positive as well as negative, since I always want to improve.  
> I'm actually German so my grammar and stuff my not be 100% correct. Feel free to point out mistakes.  
> I'm talking too much...


End file.
